The Princess
by Spiritual Stone
Summary: Seven years and he'd awakened, and Link sets out for his journey. At the end he meets the Princess, and realizes his true feelings for her. Warning: Zelda bashing.


_**The Princess**_

Horror entered his heart, wrenching at his very soul.

What had happened!? Why were the grounds around the Temple so . . . Disastrous was an understatement. There was no word to describe the scene in front of him. He looked at the distant Castle Town, the blackened roofs sending shivers down his spine. Those burns weren't recent; the wood of the houses were a dark brown with age, and the cobble-stone streets had weeds and some parts of it were upturned.

This wasn't how he had left it; this wasn't how it was supposed to be.

He looked up at the sky, which was clouded and black. A red flare caught his eyes, and he glanced towards the north, and nearly shouted in despair. Death Mountain was literally alight with what seemed like anger and hate, with some mirth mixed into its red flare that circled the mountain peak.

This was so wrong . . .

Link dashed down the steps and the secluded road that went into the market town, the flowers, the grass, the birds that he remembered now gone. Link staggered into the Market area, and felt bile going up his throat. Everything he could see was dead. The houses which had seemed very alive with the task of keeping people warm and safe, or to keep products of sales fresh were all in deadly shambles as if even the essence of being wood had been burnt away from them. The roads were upturned, unpolished, infested with weeds and the smell of decaying flesh. Even rats could barely survive in the terrain, even if they were creatures of death. The moan of the wind was the only thing that was alive in the place, and even _that_ seemed like it had come from the lonely depths of darkness. Not hell. Even hell would've been livelier.

Link coughed at the stench of death and corruption, looking around. Navi had hidden in his hat when they'd seen Death Mountain and had said nothing; she was too frightened and repulsed to look at the market. This wasn't something an innocent Fairy had to deal with. That was something he had thought, known, and spoken about several times through their adventure together, but every response to his words had been,

"Geez, Link, if _I _was too 'innocent' for this, what would that make you?"

The argument had always been too tiring to keep going.

But the strong fairy he knew hid in his hat from the sheer terror of the Market. And fear was one of the words that just didn't belong in their mental dictionaries.

Until now.

Link gritted his teeth and unsheathed the Master Sword, realizing by now that it wasn't just the wind that was moaning in pain. He didn't know what those corpses were; he didn't know why they moved, or what they were called, or how they could attack, or how he could defeat them, but he wouldn't dare ask his fairy companion. She was too scared, too shaken to tell him anything. And frankly, he was too scared to speak too.

So this was what fear felt like.

Damn it, he didn't like it at all.

Link cut ran through the dead market and cut through the opponents and left before finishing them off. As far as he was concerned so far, Navi's safety came first. Link ran out of the battlements and through the broken drawbridge. And he didn't stop running until he was ready to collapse.

That day Link had foolishly slept out in the field, forgetting the vital fact that Stalchildren appeared in the night. But that fact had been proven wrong as he slept through the starry darkness, and had woken – alive and well – the next day.

Link nudged his hat gently, shaking his friend awake. "Navi? Navi, are you okay?" he asked gently, sitting himself up groggily. In his haste to escape the sheer fright of the town had made him forget to take his sword and shield off of his back, making his weapons dig into his spine. He regretted his actions as his muscles screamed at him.

" . . . Yeah." She replied shakily, slipping out of his hat. She rested on his shoulder where she was mostly out of vision, but Link clearly saw her soul had shrunken slightly.

She was clearly _not_ okay.

"Look." He said, gesturing to their surroundings slightly, "The field isn't so bad. See? It's pretty much the same. And there weren't any Stalkids in the night."

Navi laughed uneasily. "Firstly, Link. It's Stalchildren. Secondly, if you haven't noticed, the grass is just barely green. And look at the flowers . . ." Her light dimmed, to show that she was saddening, and she nudged a lone daisy that was wilt and bug eaten.

"They were never like that in the forest . . ." she sniffed, drooping onto the ground. Link caught her before she landed, and grinned sadly, but as reassuringly as his mood would let him.

"Let's go to the forest, like the Sheik guy suggested. It'd be nice to see the others again, especially Saria. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wouldn't mind meeting Mido."

Navi glanced up at him, hopeful. "And Aloe and Daze?"

Link nodded, remembering the names of Saria's and Mido's fairies.

"Let's go then." The Kokiri . . . no. The Hylian said, his fairy trailing at his head.

Seven years. Had really that much time passed?

It definitely wasn't _unbelievable_ but . . . . if seven horrible years had passed, then that would mean everybody would've had to suffer all this time. Princess Zelda must have felt the worst, since she loved her people more than herself. What had she been doing all this time? Was she fighting? Was she safe? Maybe he'll get answers once he finished at least one Temple.

He'd have to bet on that.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Link looked upon Princess Zelda, flabbergasted. Sheik – a guy – had just turned into the Princess – a girl – the sages had urged him to look for.

That was so sick . . .

"Link . . ." the princess began, bowing her head in what seemed like humble embarrassment, "Forgive me for having to hide my identity from you. It was too dangerous to be in open sight, and as the true sovereign of the Kingdom, I had to stay hidden."

Link's emotion flared at those words, and everything he had gone through rushed through his mind. What he had had to do, what his friends had had to go through, what his _fairy_ had to go through . . . he couldn't help it.

He snarled the Princess, rage twisting his voice to harsh tone.

"What!?"

Zelda blinked, surprised.

"You expect me to believe in this load of bull!?" he screamed again, making his fairy swirl out of his hat, shocked from her sleep. Navi looked at Link, then at Zelda, and then at Link, and then back at . . .

"Wow, wait. Zelda?" Navi squeaked, rushing up to her. She swirled around the Princess for a second, bombarding the young girl with questions like, 'how've you been?' 'Are you alright?' 'Where did you go?' But that was until Link growled and barked at her to come back.

Navi froze mid-air, slightly frightened at Link's outburst. "What's wrong, Link?"

The Hylian scoffed harshly, glaring weapons down on the Princess. "What's wrong? Why, dear Navi, it's _her_ that's wrong! She's been hiding from danger while we risk our lives almost every hour of the day these past few months, when she could've bloody _helped_!"

Navi fluttered up and down on the air, confused. "Wait a second. But wasn't the Princess out of the country? After al . . ."

"_Ha_! Navi, this Princess saw us plenty of times through our adventure in the bloody Temples. She taught us plenty of songs and hints along the way too. Don't you remember? The blonde hair you admired about the guy is identical, if you ask me."

The Princess flinched at the harsh mockery in Link's tone as the fairy inspected her, making the orb of light gasp.

"Sheik! Wait, this is Zelda . . . Holy Deku! Zelda was Sheik!"

"Precisely." Link gritted out, stomping towards the now frightened princess. "And 'Sheik', who gave us plenty of hints and never answers, I'd like to ask you a question." His smile for a second looked sincere, until his smile turned into a dangerous snarl. The Princess cowered under the Hero's rage as he bellowed into her face in disgust. "What is this shit you're giving me!?"

Zelda winced at the noise, the emotion before collecting herself. As regally as possible she stood her full height and looked the Hero in the eye and said, "The truth."

Link laughed in her face, before turning away. He shook his head as he paced the Temple of Time, anger pulsing through his veins more freely than his very blood. The only comfort he felt through the turmoil his mind was going through was his fairy that trailed behind his head, like every other time that he was in some sort of trouble. Link whirled on his feet and glared at the Princess again.

"Do you even know what I've had to go through these past months or so? How much my friends had had to go through? Saria. She was so afraid that it took her forever to know that it was me that she was seeing. She didn't know that I was Hylian either; Navi did most of the persuading. And when we're done, she goes all business like on me. She wasn't like that when I last saw her! I don't know how long she'd been kept prisoner in that Temple, and frankly I don't want to know either! She had to pay hell to get out of there, and now she's stuck there because she's a damn sage! And Darunia. He was all fun and parties and responsibility at the same time when I became his brother. And now look at him! He's nothing _but_ responsibility! And the others . . . I would've been able to help them sooner if I wasn't trapped in that bloody realm for seven years!"

Tears began to develop in the Princess's eyes, and she sniffed slightly.

"And you said that when Ganondorf touched the Triforce, he was only left with power. If the courage was with me, and the Wisdom was with you, why the hell didn't you use it to stop him!?"

Zelda gasped, shocked. "Of course I helped them! As the pr . . ."

"If you really did help, why were the Kokiri under attack? Why were the Zoras frozen? Why didn't you help Link – Darunia's son – get his father back? Huh? Huh!? You had as much power as I did perhaps even more since you had seven years to work on your magic, your fighting skills, your _everything_. You had a mountain full of time to defeat Ganondorf! You _knew_ that Impa was the Shadow Sage, and yet you did _nothing_! You were concealed enough as Sheik. If you cared so much about your country, why didn't you come with me!?"

"I had other duties to attend t"

"Like what!? Filing your nails!? Having a bath!? Making sure your hair was hidden enough to meet me with your pretty little riddles and fancy music!?"

"Why . . . ! As the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom! I . . ."

"_Shut the hell up_!" Link screamed, making the Temple walls tremble. And like he commanded silence became dominant in the air in the holy stones, except for the warrior's ragged breathing.

"You have no right holding that Triforce." Link hissed, jabbing an emotional knife into Zelda's heart, "If you'd known what to do, you would've searched through every library, every advice you could get on magic, and studied it. You would've searched for the entire countries for fairies that could've aided you; people who could've secretly helped you with gathering information."

"I did exactly that!" Zelda protested, "I . . ."

"Then why was everything undone!?" Link interrupted, "If you discovered so many things, why didn't you get what you'd been looking for and did what was right!? Why didn't you go as far as you possibly could while you were able to!? You know some of the things I went through would've been easy for even a _princess_ like you."

Zelda clenched her gloved hands in anger, insulted by the sexist accusation of not being able to do anything because she was a girl. "For your information I . . ."

"I don't want to hear it! If you're so wise, why didn't you fix this!? Don't you get that this . . . that these bloody seven years that the people had to go through . . . is _your_ fault!? It was you who told me to open the Door of Time and get the Triforce before Ganondorf did, it was you who made me grab the friggin' sword and get myself trapped, it was you who let Ganondorf have the Triforce, and it. was. _you_ who let that poor excuse of a living being to let him rule for this long! If there's _anyone _who disserves the Triforce of Wisdom, it's Navi here!"

"Link that's enough!" The fairy hissed, knowing full well by now that he had said too much.

She was right, because Zelda's heart was bleeding. She gripped her skirts, knowing that – in a twisted way – he was right. But still, it hurt to be said out loud, especially by the one she had fallen for. If only she'd had enough courage to not run away, enough to lend Link her help. Then perhaps his interest for the farm girl wouldn't have grown, or even be there for that matter.

But still . . .

Navi now noticed something as silence dominated once more. She'd kind of noticed something the other time when Link had ordered silence, but it was much clearer this time. Navi tilted to the side, wondering what it was. ". . . . Are the walls still rumbling?"

Suddenly a pink crystal trapped the Princess, and something dropped from her person and onto the floor. She screamed in fright and slammed her fists against the pink walls, wanting to get out.

"_So this was how you eluded me for seven long years!_" a sickly voice boomed, unchanging after seven long years, "_If you wish to see the Princess again, brat, come to my castle. I will be waiting for you there!_" The crystal lifted up, and then vanished.

Link huffed and crossed his arms across his chest, snarling up at the air where he last saw the crystal. "If it wasn't for other people I wanted to rescue, I wouldn't even bother, Ganondorf."

Navi bombarded herself into Link's head, a way of telling him silently to shut up. Link rubbed the part where Navi had hit him, and then noticed what had been dropped in the midst of it all. He trotted up to it and picked it up, not too impressed as he examined the ordinary looking arrow. But that opinion changed when he tapped at the arrow head, making yellow light flare at the contact.

"What the . . . ?"

"It's a Light Arrow! You remember the stories the Deku Tree told us of don't you? I think this is the key in defeating that good for nothing son-of-a . . ."

Link smirked and interrupted his fairy before she finished her bad language. "I knew time out of the forest would be bad for you." Link flicked the arrowhead again, getting the same reaction as before. "You know, if Zelda had this, this is more proof that she couldn't be bothered to help us."

". . . Let's just get this over and done with, shall we?" Navi asked, sober because of Link's unusual moodiness. Link noticed and realized this and apologetically held his advisor in his palm.

"I'm sorry, Nav. I . . . if Zelda wasn't such a bitch . . ."

"Link."

"Like I said. I'm sorry." Link looked at the light arrow, then at the Triforce mark on his hand. He jabbed the arrow onto the mark that had cursed him, and a single trail of blood was left behind.

He'd made the relic remember the magic in the arrow; now he could call up on it any time he wanted.

He set off for the Princess, even though unwillingly.

* * *

**Hello peoples! Thanks for reading this angsty fanfic. Hehehe . . . the summary drew you into this didn't it? It sounds really romantic at first, but the true dark feelings of the stories are revealed! Ha!**

**Anywho . . .**

**If you're wondering if I'm against Zelink pairings, that's not the case. Frankly, I don't mind who becomes couples with who, as the long the story is good. And as I read these awesome stories, I thought 'hm . . . not much girl hating around here . . .'.**

**At first I thought it was just because there aren't an hatable people out there in the Zelda world, but boy I was wrong. I felt like writing a one shot, since I was stuck on my other story, so i thought I might imagine what I'd feel like after being trapped for seven years, seeing your country in a bloody mess, seeing yourself and your friends going through sheer hell just to finish what destiny started . . .**

**I suddenly felt like destroying something after that.**

**So yeah, this is the reason why I wanted to write this fic. Flames are welcome - even though I don't exactly know what they are - and if you have any ideas to improve this fic, hit me! a hand stretches from the screan and slaps me Not literally!!**

**Please, please review. It would be apreaceated greatly.**

**Love, SS. :)**


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